Grounds care/yard maintenance and other outdoor tasks associated with grooming and maintaining property are commonly performed using various tools and/or machines that are configured for the performance of corresponding specific tasks. Certain tasks, like snow removal, are typically performed by snow removal equipment such as snow blowers or snow throwers that may be mounted on riding or walk behind devices. Other tasks, like lawn mowing may be performed by riding or walk behind lawn mowers. Still other tasks, such as tilling, trimming and/or the like may also be employed by either riding or walk behind devices. Moreover, in some cases, such tasks may be performed using hand held power equipment.
One common type of tiller, or cultivator, employs some form of rotating assembly that is configured to stir, pulverize or otherwise break up the ground that is encountered thereby in order to loosen the soil, aerate the soil and alleviate soil compaction. Loosened soil may be more easily augmented with fertilizer and may also be more easily planted. Tilling might also convert a patch of soil that is currently covered with undesirable plants into a seed ready patch that can be prepared for conversion into a more useful agricultural purpose.
It is often desirable to control the depth to which the ground is tilled, stirred or pulverized. Thus, the rotating assembly may be configured to be rotated while encountering the soil down to a predefined depth. The rotating assembly may include teeth or disks that are turned through their interaction with the soil. When teeth are employed, they may be referred to as tines.
The rotation of the tines through the soil tends to break up the soil and also uproot any rooted plants that are encountered. For smaller plants, the uprooting action may simply kill the plant and discard the uprooted plant as the rotating assembly continues to turn. However, for larger plants that may have more developed or larger root systems, it is possible for the roots to become tangled in the tines of the rotating assembly. If the tangling of roots within the tines of the rotating assembly becomes significant, the effectiveness of the rotating assembly relative to tilling the ground may be reduced. In extreme cases, the rotation of the rotating assembly may even be inhibited. This phenomenon may cause the operator to need to stop tilling from time to time in order to clear obstructions from the rotating assembly. In many cases, clearing obstructions from the tines may be difficult to do. The operator may need to employ tools to cut through roots and pull them out of the tines manually. Meanwhile, the operator may need to be bent over or tip the tilling machine on its side to get at the problem to attempt to fix it. Even so, the operator may be limited to only one direction from which to attempt to reach obstructions with any degree of effectiveness since the tiller tines may remain fixed to the rotating assembly and the shaft that turns the assembly. This may increase the time it takes to cultivate and may reduce the efficiency of operation while also decreasing operator satisfaction.